This Life and the Next
by Agent Malkere
Summary: Luke gets an unexpected visit from an old friend. WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
1. Chapter 1

_**This Life and the Next**_

 _By Agent Malkere_

 **WARNING: If you didn't notice in the summary, this story contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. If you haven't seen the movie and don't want it spoiled, please hit the back button now.**

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars in any way, shape, or form and am not profiting from this story._

Luke stared quietly across the vast expanse of ocean and sipped his tea, thinking. He'd been doing a lot of that over the last few years. He felt the faintest ripple in the Force behind him, signaling the arrival of a Force ghost. Ben Kenobi, no doubt. Speaking with Ben had been one of his only sources of comfort over the last few years as Luke struggled with the pain and guilt of his nephew's betrayal.

"Ben, it's been a while. I-" Luke ground to a halt as he turned. It wasn't Ben standing behind him. "Han?"

"Hey, kid." This wasn't Han as Luke had last seen him – graying and world-weary and shrouded in grief. This was Han of thirty years ago, face unlined, as if he had stepped straight out of Luke's memories of the Rebellion. He was even wearing the same damn jacket. The only difference was the blue aura that now glowed around him. Luke had felt his friend's death, grieved it, but he certainly hadn't been expecting a visit.

"How are you here?" Luke never had managed to maintain his calm Jedi façade around Han and Leia – they both knew him far too well.

Han shrugged.

"I'm not really sure, but from what Kenobi said, I think I had just enough of the Force in me for this to happen when I died. This is not what I was planning on. I was hoping for more of a traditional Corellian afterlife, if I got one. You know, drinking, shooting things, maybe the occasion brawl? But instead I'm stuck with several hundred generations of Jedi masters and my father-in-law. They do NOT know how to party."

"Father-in-law? You've been talking to-"

"I have not been _talking_ to him. Anakin Skywalker is _stalking me_." Han crossed his arms defensively and scowled.

Luke blinked and felt his jaw drop open in surprise.

"He's _what_?"

Han's scowl deepened a little.

"Apparently, he's on a one hundred year probationary period or something since he only turn back to the Light side at the last moment. No visits to the living plane. They made an exception for the celebration on Endor because Kenobi and Yoda were supervising him. He can't visit you himself, so he keeps chasing around _me_ asking me all sorts of questions about you and Leia. And _apologizing_. 'I'm sorry I had you tortured.' 'I'm sorry I froze you in carbonite and gave you to a bounty hunter.' It's getting really annoying. Leia was more upset with him than I ever was." Han paused and sighed. "I miss her."

"Have you been to see her, yet?" asked Luke. Even after all his years as a Jedi, seeing Han Solo as a Force ghost was… weird. Really weird.

"Not yet. I will, though. She's just not- Seeing me like this is gonna hurt her more than help right now." Han gestured at himself. "At least, I'm maintaining one age. Your dad keeps popping back and forth between twenty and forty-five. It's disturbing."

Luke took another sip of his tea. Despite the circumstances, it was good to talk to Han again. He had missed his friend.

"So what is it Force ghosts do all day?" he asked, something like a smile pulling at his lips. It was an unfamiliar, almost forgotten feeling.

"Currently, they're all debating whether or not Anakin Skywalker fulfilled his destiny by going to the Dark side and the returning to the Light or if the Dark side seducing him was its way of preventing him from fulfilling his destiny. I think they've all agreed that killing Palpatine was part of his destiny, but they can't decide if slaughtering almost all the Jedi was, too." Han paused. "It's even more boring than it sounds."

"You know, Ben never mentions things like that when he visits." Han snorted but otherwise didn't reply. Silence stretched out between them. Luke looked down at his tea. "Han, I…." He paused. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, not you, too! Sorry for what?"

"He killed you." Luke couldn't bring himself to even say his nephew's name.

"Yeah, I know. I was there. What do you have to do with it?"

Luke frowned and looked up at Han's almost flippant tone.

"It's my fault. I should have done more, been a better teacher. I shouldn't have left. If I'd just-"

"Don't be an idiot," Han interrupted. "We all made mistakes, but in the end it was his choice." He hesitated and then continued. "Death changes your outlook on things. I'm more… disappointed in him than anything. The important thing is that I gave him the chance to come home, and he made his choice. Can't do anything more than that." He stopped and scrubbed one hand over his face. "Oh maker, listen to me! Three weeks surrounded by Jedi, and I'm already starting to sound like one of them!" He waved a finger at Luke. "I did not come here to have a sentimental and depressing conversation!" Luke started to open his mouth. "Don't you dare start apologizing again."

Luke held up his hands.

"I wasn't going to. Want some tea?"

"I'm a ghost, kid. I can't drink tea."

Luke grinned.

"I know."

"Good to see your sense of humor is still as strange as ever. Shame we couldn't fix that."

"So why do you look so young? Ben and Yoda look the same as when they died."

"Dunno. I-" Han stopped as Luke's gaze was abruptly pulled up towards the sky. "What is it?"

"It seems I'm going to have company soon." Luke could feel the gentle tug and ripple of their approach in the Force.

"Huh. I guess they found the rest of the map then." Han's mouth twisted to one side in amusement. "I guess I should get going, so you can go find a place to look properly brooding and dramatic for when they arrive."

Luke finished off his tea and glared at his friend.

"I am not-"

"Sure you are. This planet is practically made of dramatic cliffs overlooking the ocean. You can't fool me – you probably planned it that way."

Luke rolled his eyes.

"I'll see you later, Han."

"You sure will." Han started to turn and then glanced back over his shoulder. "May the Force be with you, Luke." And with a lopsided grin, he was gone.

Luke turned his gaze back to the expanse of the oceans. A tiny part of his heart felt a little less lonely than it had before.

 _A/N: Han Solo has always been my favorite character and it broke my heart when he died. This is my solution. From now on, any time Luke isn't on screen, I'm just going to assume that Han is bugging him as a Force ghost._

 _I've always thought that Han had a little bit of the Force in him – not enough to be a Jedi, just enough to make him an almost uncannily good shot._


	2. Chapter 2

Just over a year after his death, Han was finally starting to get used to this whole 'afterlife' thing. It was still a little strange. He didn't feel the passage of time as he used to. The overall sense of peace and contentment didn't make him as uncomfortable as he would have thought. At least Anakin Skywalker had stopped stalking him for the moment, and Luke seemed to be happily – if a little hesitantly – teaching his new student. Han checked in on the kid every now and then. He'd never been able to bring himself to visit anyone else. He'd been worried that it would hurt more than help. And perhaps he'd been just a little bit afraid – running away from his problems in death as he had in life.

Around Han something rippled and shifted as though the fabric of existence had heaved a long sigh. In the distance, the Jedi masters paused for a moment in their ceaseless debate. The blue haze of the Force's presence stretched and swirled and then… Han was no longer alone.

She was as he had always remembered her best – braids piled and looped around her head like a crown, her hair untouched by gray, the deep lines of stress and worry erased from around her eyes.

"Leia." The name was yanked from his lips and left his throat and heart feeling raw.

She blinked and looked up at him. A smile pulled across her face, and the last of the lingering weight from his old life slipped from Han's shoulders. Leia quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I wasn't expecting to see you again quite so soon." Only the faintest of tremors in her voice gave her away. Han strode forward and wrapped her in his arms, burying his face in her hair. Ever so slowly she relaxed in his arms. "I missed you," came the barely audible whisper.

"I know."

* * *

 _A/N: In memory of Carrie Fisher. May the Force continue to be strong with you wherever you are._

 _I hadn't intended to ever continue this story, but I found my heart in need of healing once more._


End file.
